Sun will flip its magnetic field in 3-4 months, warns NASA

Major changes are about to take place with regards to the sun, and the effects of these changes will reportedly impact our entire solar system. It is known systematically as a solar magnetic flip, or a reversal of the sun’s magnetic field, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) says this incredible phenomenon is set to occur as soon as within the next three-to-four months.

A recent NASA announcement explains that this unusual magnetic field reversal is part of a polarity change event that occurs every 11 years at the peak of each individual solar cycle. When this next magnetic flip eventually takes place, it will mark the midpoint of Solar Cycle 24, or the half point of what is known as the current “Solar Max.” And you and I will notice it, say experts, in the form of increased space weather and other space events around planet Earth.

“It looks like we’re no more than three to four months away from a complete field reversal,” says Todd Hoeksema, director of Stanford University’s Wilcox Solar Observatory, in a recent statement about the event. “The magnetic field from active regions makes its way toward the poles and eventually causes the reversal. This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system.”

As it turns out, the extent of the sun’s magnetic influence, also known as its “heliosphere,” is incredibly large, extending out beyond Pluto, the furthest planet from the sun. Polarity changes, such as a magnetic field reversal, have the potential to significantly alter the pattern of the sun’s “current sheet,” the surface that jets out from the sun’s equator and induces electrical currents in its magnetic field.